us to cite Him for a witness, to have recourse to His bar,
to engage His justice and power, whenever the case deserveth and
requireth it, or when we cannot by other means well assure the
sincerity of our meaning, or secure the constancy of our
resolutions.

Yea, in such exigencies He doth exact this practice from us, as an
instance of our religious confidence in Him, and as a service
conducible to His glory. For it is a precept in His law, of moral
nature, and eternal obligation, "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God;
Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, and shalt swear
by His name." It is the character of a religious man to swear with
due reverence and upright conscience. For, "The king," saith the
psalmist, "shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by Him
shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be
stopped." It is a distinctive mark of God's people, according to
that of the prophet Jeremy, "And it shall come to pass, if they will
diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name . . .
then shall they be built in the midst of my people." It is
predicted concerning the evangelical times, "Unto Me every knee
shall bow, every tongue shall swear:" and, "That he who blesseth
himself in the earth, shall bless himself by the God of Truth; and
he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by the God of Truth."

As therefore all other acts of devotion, wherein immediate
application is made to the Divine Majesty, should never be performed
without most hearty intention, most serious consideration, most
lowly reverence; so neither should this grand one, wherein God is so
nearly touched, and His chief attributes so much concerned: the
which indeed doth involve both prayer and praise, doth require the
most devotional acts of faith and fear.

We therefore should so perform it as not to incur that reproof:
"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me
with their lips, but their heart is far from me."

When we seem most formally to avow God, to confess His omniscience,
to confide in His justice, we should not really disregard Him, and
in effect signify that we do not think He doth know what we say, or
what we do.

If we do presume to offer this service, we should do it in the
manner appointed by himself, according to the conditions prescribed
in the prophet, "Thou shalt swear, the Lord liveth, in truth, in
judgment, and in rig